Garden Plants, How and where
to grow them - Shrubs & Hedging

Cherry LaurelPrunus laurocerasus - Shrub

A fast growing evergreen
hedging plant that can be more readily kept in check
than conifers that are often grown. Attractive
glossy leaves and an ability to produce fresh shoots
when cut back to brown wood make it a valuable
garden plant.

A much nicer looking plant, bushy, quick growing but
not in the same bully-boy league as Lleylandii, and
with the bonus of spring flowers and the ability to regenerate
itself when cut back hard into brown wood. An evergreen shrub
with large glossy, dark green leaves. It makes an excellent
hedging plant, and can cope with deep shade under trees as well
as full sun. Sometimes there are cherry red berries. Will grow
into a loose tree if allowed to go unpruned.

As well as being used for hedges, make a good windbreak for
an exposed corner if planted alone, or a good dark green backdrop
to more ornamental plants.

Height and spread: 10m x 10m
(30ft x 30ft) A smaller variety "Otto luyken" is available
that grows only to about 1m x 1.5m (3ft x 5ft), good for
the more restricted situation.

Position: full sun, partial
shade or shade

Soil: any except shallow chalk

Rate of growth: fast-growing

Flowering period: April

Flower colour: white

Hardiness: fully hardy, not
suitable for very exposed positions

Uses: Specimen / Hedging / mixed
border

Planting distance when used for hedging:
60cm, 24"

Clipped height: 1.2-2.5m, 4-8ft.
can be larger

Number of times to clip per season
and when: 1, after flowering

Pruning: Prune after flowering
in May. Use secateurs rather than shears for pruning as
the large leaves are easily cut through by shears and will
go yellow and brown from the cut edge (not good).

Responds to renovation?: Yes
Responds well to renovation and drastic cutting back, stage
this over 2 or 3 years if possible for a very large plant,
but don't worry too much if you can't.

Questions about
Prunus laurocerasus Cherry laurel

Most frequently asked question.
I planted some laurels 4ft high 1 month ago, some leaves
are wilting and going crusty. There are holes in the leaves
though not all, and brown patches can you advise what to do
as I don't want to lose them.

A. Laurels don't like being moved
much and the larger they are, the less they like it. Chances
are they're just having a sulk. Assuming you planted them correctly
it's a case of making sure they don't dry out too much. Things
will start happening in the next month or so (April at time
of writing) and it's more than likely that the dropped leaves
will be replaced by new buds that you should see starting to
grow? You also have to remember that although laurels are evergreen
this means they always have some leaves rather than always have
the same leaves, leaf drop is part of the normal annual cycle.
An upset (like transplanting) means they might do it in one
go. It's more a question of hold your nerve for a while, make
sure you "baby" them through the first summer, a good soak once
a week if it turns out to be dry (not smaller daily waterings),
mulch them and feed in the autumn.

Q. I have
a huge laurel tree in my back garden. It is about 30ft! It has
just been knocked down by the storm winds and needs to
be removed as is dangerous. Is it ok to burn the wood and leaves?
It has been suggested to me that the fumes from burning the
leaves is poisonous. Is this correct?

A. Poisonous - not really any more
than usual bonfire fumes which are pretty bad anyway.

Laurel leaves are full of oil and ignite fiercely, which
is good in getting the fire going, but can be a bit surprising
if you're not expecting it. Start off with a smallish fire and
add extra branches to gauge how fast they will burn rather than
throwing loads on at once or it will burn like a minor wildfire.

Q. I have
a large west facing garden to the side of my Suffolk Cottage,
bounding against a road. In April this year I planted a Laurel
hedge along this boundary, I hope to eventually have a dense
informal hedge around 6-8 feet high. The Laurels were
4ft high when planted and they have grown strongly over the
summer, they are now around 5-6ft but are starting to look a
little leggy. How do I go about cutting the hedge with the aim
to achieve a dense high hedge? I very much hope you can help
with this question as I have hunted high and low on the WW web
and found very little advice.

A. If left to their own devices with
lots of space, laurels will grow into a bushy tree / tall shrub
about 20ft + high. It seems that this is what yours are in the
process of doing, particularly as you say they have grown strongly.
To get them to bush out, particularly low down, you need to
prune quite hard. Cut them back at the top to prevent the development
of a strong leader which will encourage a tree-like form. It's
difficult to guess without seeing them, but I'd take about a
foot off. Laurels respond well if rather slowly to being cut
back hard. If there are any branches low down, then cut them
back close to the trunk - even though this seems the wrong thing
to do. The plant will respond by breaking several buds where
there were originally only one or two, so helping cover up the
lower part of the stem. The best time to do this is late spring
after they have flowered, don't expect to see much coverage
for about a year, but it will come. If you're a bit unsure about
this drastic action, just do a couple in the middle of the hedge
(i.e. with one either side, and then the rest when you're confident
it works !). Prune laurels with secateurs and loppers, hedge
shears cut the large leaves causing die-off at the leaf edge
which looks a mess.

Q. I'd really
appreciate any info you might have re a dieback problem I'm
having with my laurel hedge. About 2 months ago a three
feet wide section of the hedge appeared frost-damaged - we had
2 or 3 very sharp drops in temp at night during the previous
week. The hedge had been well cut back c3 years ago due to building
work but was flourishing with lots of lush new growth - I thought
its thinning perhaps had made it susceptible to frost damage.
This 3 feet section however has now extended to almost 6 feet
wide & appears to be spreading. My neighbour & I are very concerned
& would appreciate any advice on how we might save it. The laurel
is c.12 feet high/50 feet long & I think was planted when the
houses were built in 1920s - the leaves are fine and small and
a light green colour, not dark. The dieback appears to start
from the bottom up with leaves wilting, then brown spots, then
entire leaf brown and stems browning. Is there a disease that
affects laurel? or could the roots be water-logged (nurseries
here have been recently selling off plants due to the extraordinary
wet weather we have had!) A friend has also suggested cats &
their 'ablutions' (another neighbour has two new cats).

A. If those cats can kill off a 12ft
high by 6ft wide 80 year old laurel, I'm glad they're in Northern
Ireland and not over here! Seriously though I think we can disregard
the cats as a factor. It's difficult to tell without seeing
the hedge directly. With such a large old plant, I think the
most likely cause will be a fungal disease triggered by several
factors that have acted together to weaken the plant. Age, water
logging, physical damage - letting fungal spores in - may all
have a part to play. The first thing I would do would be to
delve into the hedge and determine how many plants the die-back
is affecting, is it just one or is it moving to others? Look
carefully at the plants, leaves, stems, trunk for any clues,
I presume there aren't any pests or you'd have mentioned them?
Are there signs of fungal disease any where? especially low
down near the ground, is the bark damaged? Is there anything
peculiar about where the damaged plant/s are growing? Are the
branches the dead leaves are attached to dying too? Snap one
or two and see if there are signs of life. If they are dead
then cut back into a live part. If they are still alive, things
are looking better. To be honest things don't sound too great
and it may be a question of containment if the problem can't
be dealt with directly, stopping it from spreading to the next
plants on in the hedge. If the problem is containable and stoppable
then the good news is that laurels usually recover well from
some hard pruning.

Q. What is
the best time to plant a laurel hedge?

A. The best time to plant any kind
of shrubs / trees / hedging is in the early autumn. September
to November. That way there's still enough of the growing season
left for the plants to get established before it gets cold.
It's not going to be so hot or dry that the plants get stressed
or need lots of looking after and come the spring they're all
ready and raring to go as they are established already. The
down side is that you don't really see much growth for about
6 months. Spring, Feb to about May is also good. If plants are
containerised however they can be planted at any time of the
year as long as they're looked after, but autumn is optimal.

Q. We have
a well established laurel hedge, either side of a huge Lleylandii
tree - the total hedge is 12ft high, 4ft thick and about 40
yards long. This year 10/15 yards have started to develop a
leaf curl with light brown (powdery) spots on the back of the
leaf. Would spraying with a bordeaux mixture cure this
disease? Any advice you can offer would be appreciated

A. It certainly sounds like a fungal
disease, the rain of the past month has meant that fungi have
found it easy to take hold on many plants. I'd get a proprietary
fungicide and use that. You could use the Bordeaux mixture as
well, but I wouldn't use it on its own. If the leaves fall,
collect them and dispose down the tip - not on the compost heap,
get them out of the garden. Spray the hedge as soon as you can
and then repeat it 5-7 days later, you may need to do it again
if the disease re-surfaces. Will it cure the disease? No guarantee,
sometimes such diseases are a symptom of something else, like
getting a sore throat with the flu - opportunists can make the
most of a weakened condition. I would expect a good chance of
recovery though.

Q. We have
our garden enclosed by Laurel Hedges. Gradually one by one they
are deteriorating i.e. leaves go yellow and brown and drop off.
Why? on the stems one sees a 'Clear Gel' appearing to ease from
the wood (the laurels are well established with 30mm diameter
trunks). The gel appears along the lengths of the trunks and
branches. Can you help please as holes are appearing everywhere
and we are losing our lovely garden.

A. It sounds very much like your
laurels have a bacterial canker that particularly affects plants
of the Genus Prunus to which laurels belong. If there are clearly
defined areas of bark that are flattening and sinking inwards
near the regions of oozing sap, that just about confirms it.
Infected areas should be pruned out and burnt, though this should
only be done during the summer months if possible. Spray with
a copper based fungicide such as Bordeaux mixture or with copper
oxychloride. Ideally this should be done in late summer, then
early and mid autumn. Start now and leave about 2 weeks between
sprayings.

Q. Help with
rampant laurel greatly appreciated. We recently have moved and
are now occupying a property which includes a lovely, mature
garden. However, a few shrubs and trees are very over-grown.
I found your site by searching for laurel pruning, and whilst
I see you have already posted some advice on bringing into line
an eight foot laurel hedge, I hope you will advise me on how
to tackle one which has reached 25 to 30 feet in height and
12 feet in depth! The hedge runs along 60 or so feet of the
border between our property and our neighbour's and encroaches
on both. I have spoken to the chap next door who is as keen
as I to win back some room, but we both also agree that it would
be desirable to leave a screen between the two properties. Some
of the main trunks measure in excess of seven or eight inches
in diameter. The hedge is planted two feet away from a four
foot tall stone wall. How would you advise that I proceed?

A. Sounds like you've got a bit of
a monster there! I'll start by admitting that I've never actually
brought anything of that size down to a reasonable height and
thickness, though I have tackled smaller, but still large Laurel
hedges. Don't try to do anything until the late spring when
it's growing strongly, pruning laurels in the dormant season
can introduce disease and you might damage or eventually lose
one or more plants. Laurels will generally grow very successfully
from brown wood and so it is possible to get the result you
want without too much of a problem, there will probably be a
time where the screen is rather sparse and woody rather than
thick and leafy however it will thicken up again.

As you're cutting so much off them, I'd try to do it
over more than one season. What you don't want to do is say
chop 3 feet off either side of a 12 foot thick plant and then
a further 2 feet the next year as all the energy and regowth
from the first cuts will be lost again. Cut one side back fully
and the other not all until it's recovered. If it recovers well,
you might even try the second side the same season. I'd go for
height and one side to start with and then the other side later
on. Take care that you don't let the bark tear off as larger
branches or trunks fall, cut through both sides partly before
through the whole trunk. You'll also be left with a huge pile
of growth to get rid of. If you have a mighty compost shredder
and the patience, you could feed it through that. If you have
the space you could burn it, but beware, laurel leaves are full
of oils and burn like buggery! You could take it to the skip
if you have access to a van, or you could pay someone else to
dispose of it. If you choose to pay someone else to do it, I'd
be tempted to do the cutting myself and get them to do the disposal
as the kind of contractors who do this tend not to be the most
skilled or careful horticulturalists! Oh yes, buy a new blade
or two for your bow saw before you start and use loppers where
possible.

reply:Hello Paul,Many thanks for your reply. Your
advice is very welcome and timely. Lately, I have been approached
by a local contractor who, knowing that I wanted to drastically
prune, suggested that I should proceed with impunity, as 'you
can do pretty much what you want to laurel' and that we could
start immediately. I will now proceed with more caution and
confidence. Luckily for me, I sell bow saw blades!!! Thank you
once again.

Q. Nearly
two years ago, I had a laurel hedge planted, it consists of
about 30 plants and is now beautifully knitting and desperately
in need of a bit of trimming. My question is, that many
of the leaves are displaying holes, about the size of the top
of a pencil. Could this be caterpillars, if not, what do you
think it could be, and what would be a safe, preferably non-chemical
way of treating it.

A. Sounds like a malady called "shot
hole" are the hole edges clean and green - like they've just
been eaten? or is there an inconspicuous but distinct brown
ring at the edge of the hole? - if the ring is there it's probably
shot hole. There will also be brown spots of dead tissue on
the leaf. Patches of cells die and turn brown, then the brown
dead part drops out leaving the hole. If it's caterpillars,
you should be able to find some, possibly under the leaves if
they're not conspicuous. Shot hole is a symptom rather than
the name of a disease, and there are many possible causes from
various kinds of fungi or bacteria. Treatment is by applying
some kind of fungicide, copper or sulphur-based treatments are
considered organic and you should be able to get a preparation
at a garden centre (Bordeaux mixture contains copper).

Q. I have
approx 1/3 of an acre at home idle. I have lots of laurel hedges
grown in my garden as borders and have grown very fast. I had
an idea of maybe buying approx 2 feet laurels and either potting
or planting them on the 1/3 acre for a few years and selling
on as a mature hedge. I think one of your answers says
moving laurels especially as they get older is not a good idea.
So could I pot them in lines for a few years until they are
approx 5 or 6 feet and would this be a difficult process?

A. What you describe is perfectly
possible, as a landscaper I have bought laurels in 10L pots
that are about 4-5 feet high and they are very useful in giving
a start to a hedge. If you go the container route, you need
to think about how they are going to be watered, some degree
of automation is needed even if it's turning on the tap for
a sprinkler or leaky hose every now and then. You might also
want to think about growing large ornamental conifers if you're
doing this too, they were very useful to me as a landscaper
and not easy to find. These can more easily be field grown and
then sold in winter months root-balled with hessian. Make sure
you do some research though locally as to the market, someone
I know of grew half a a field of Lleylandii, by the time they
were big enough to sell, no-one wanted to buy them thanks to
the horror stories! laurels should be better though.